As the leaves took their final fall with each one headed for their resting place in a unique fashion that no other leaves would replicate, the darkness would then reveal the predator that it hides. As the predator reveals itself under the moonlight, the resting leaves would be ignored and trampled upon, not minding the fact of giving away the location of the predator. There was neither any other predator nor any other prey, a cat and mouse game led the cat slow down to gain a trace of the prey. For the prey, running at this point might not be a good choice since it lacks the mobility to avoid the predator altogether and so it hides from a distance and watches the predator and hope the pursuer would turn into a passer-by.

A stone fueled by chakra nearly hit Yuri's face at her right as it grazes pass her face, bypassing her span of attention. It stopped her movement and response to pain. 30 meters away from him in the forest together is giving her the advantage. As he turned away from Yuri's sight, she let out a slight breath of relief, thinking that the chasing game had finally ended. Letting the sound of getting grazed slip from her mind turns out to be fatal given the level of silence in the forest. He appeared behind Yuri. Fortunately, before checkmate could happen, Yuri continued her run given her advantage of mobility and the time needed to give her the killing blow. With a few seconds, the trees around her area collapsed, giving him a clear view of Yuri.

Should he perfected his technique before using it, Yuri would have been looking at him facing the sky right now. He walked into the open area he just made and smiled at its outcome and it gets him going to try out even more since he did not start chasing without something in mind. Yuri looked at him attentively even though he still has a distance away to get her.

Yuri pats her face to get some energy. At the same time, the moon got directly above him, distracting her vision. Her opponent is no regular fighting simpleton. It has been a while since she faced anyone of such a level. The cleared area had the size of a running track surrounded by what remain of the area after an technique that seemingly causes earthquake that caused Yuri to stay on mid-air for a moment. The messed up ground gave no chance to any member of nature caught in this mess though mother earth still retains most of the forest. Yuri had to be careful since even just getting out of the mess requires her attention of looking out for sharp ends of any parts of the fallen trees, limiting her ability to continue running. Turning the battlefield to his advantage. he decides against the killing blow given his level confidence and the need to try out his new techniques.

He covered the moonlight to let Yuri's vision of him be unclear by using his shadow against her, hoping to get a moment of complacency from her. Knowing that the moon stands by his side, he started his series of handseals again. Looking at her age, he though that Yuri must have been one of those being presented to prepare for the challenges he will be facing later in his life, not of those who stands a chance of fighting life and death against him. A pad on the ground saw rocks flying at Yuri alongside with branches that got carried together by the force of those rocks. Yuri had little time to evade this.

The abundance of wreckage around did not gave all the advantage to him as Yuri jumped to the side to avoid half of the incoming mess and used a nearby log to take the damage for her. He continued his barrage by continuing the handesals and reaching for the ground. Trying to use the area to her advantage, she threw a branch to the spot where he would lend the strength of earth to get her. It did not hinder the success rate of the technique but the time required of it. A split second means time for Yuri since she still enjoys her superior mobility advantage over him. A greater mess made of the rocks and wood is coming for Yuri.

Among the mess, Yuri could see a rock coming at her first, she was taken aback again form time to time. Reacting that way was right since that technique alone was already beyond her. Thankfully, there are wood around the sizes of those rocks coming at her as well. Seeing as a single rock were coming to her almost as though it was her whenever she could see herself running elsewhere and it would be jumping elsewhere in this mess. She knew that not everything from the incoming mess can be blocked if all of them were coming to her at once since they outnumber her. However, only one of them would get to her first and she would be able to evade it. But, evading is more tiring than blocking it. Without much thought, She allowed the first rock to guide her backwards, thankfully the little branches that came along with it did not obstruct her vision as she timed a kunai-sized tree branch to balance herself on the incoming rock and jump back at the same time. It wouldn't let her get out of the mess but at least being closer to the standing trees that surrounds the area.

Fortunately, Yuri landed on a path that seems to be lacking of pointy objects to obstruct Yuri from getting away to let her slip from his vision again. Not taking her chances, she simply ran for it. This triggered the fire in him to burn as his anger outwitted his tolerance of tracking Yuri down since evening. He should have looked around the area more carefully before using his technique, it was as though he pushed for the fight to end.

Yuri was eating lunch alone at afternoon in a noodle stall. It was a good day so far; not too cloudy, not too sunny. She was sharing a little meat with a interested baby wrapped in arms of another when suddenly POOF, Yuri was hit.

Yuri fell out of the sky and slammed into a tree nowhere. Where... where am I...? she wondered aloud. That's when a giant face appeared in the sky. the face was... strange. And it was more of a hologram anyway with the advancement of Kirigakure's technology. Then the face started talking.

HELLO CONTESTANTS! WELCOME TO THE ARENA ! IN THIS FIGHT, YOU WILL BE GIVEN TWO ITEMS Suddenly, a steak and a kunai appeared beside Yuri, AND A LOT MORE STRENGTH Yuri quickly felt much stronger, AND SOME ARENA CASH Yuri felt nothing, it was a lie or maybe there are flaws with the latest inventions,THE ARENA IS DIVIDED INTO FOUR QUADRENTS- THE FOREST, THE DESERT, THE TUNDRA, AND THE VOLCANO! THERE IS ONE STORE LOCATED IN EACH AREA. EACH SELLS A DIFFERENT KIND OF FOOD. HUNGER IS A PROBLEM FOR YOU GUYS. THAT'S NOT ALL, BUT YOU MUST FIGHT EACH OTHER UNTIL ONE COMPETITOR IS LEFT. YOU ALL WILL THEN BE TRANSPORTED BACK TO YOUR WORLD. READY, SET, GO! and the hologram disappeared.

Yuri scratched her head. Well... this is... ok. Well, time to try and find a store... she said and she hopped down from the tree. I wonder who all is competing...

Fate did not give her much time on her noodle when sending her here. Yuri could heard her stomach growl. Looking in her pouch, it seemed completely empty besides a single kunai and a filet minion ? Well, it looked fine so Yuri ate the steak. It tasted pretty good too. But a forced competition is still a competition. Not far away from her, someone looked around. Moving slowly out of the blizzard in front of himself, Yuri appeared. He proceeded with a set amount of handseals to make a clone of himself to approach the woman slowly.

Yuri soon arrived in the tundra area. That's when she saw a boy arrive in front of her. She smiled a sly smile; she would reply on her acting skill now. Yuri was planning on befriending him and then, when he least expected it, she would strike. No time to play nice and sweet now since there should be a prize at the end, and she wasn't going to lose. She smiled a sweet smile and stuck out her hand. Hi! . So, uh, do do know whats going on here? she said. The clone did not waste any time either, it reached out to Yuri and exploded. It was 50 feet wide where most would not escape the huge explosion the clone had let out by conventional means as giant wave of flames clashed with the air around it. But, milliseconds before the blast reached her, she substituted herself and was quickly replaced by a rock. This could only be possible with her awareness that comes from her current weakness. in return, she was spared from turning into minced meat but not from flying into the air by the impact. This forced her to brace for impact when landing, hurting herself in the entire process. She rubbed a little snow on them to numb the pain a bit. Fortunately, there wasn't only 2 participants. When the explosion settled, the 3rd participant had Blue fire-ice to form over his arms, covering it in a type of armor. His hands formed into massive, burning claws. Come on out people. Play time is over! he snarled, something deadly shining in his eyes. It was an eye opener for the likes of Yuri as he charged towards a certain direction. She was pretty sure that the mastermind of the explosion is there.

The man behind the planning of the clone rapidly dashed back from the continuous flaming attacks with some hitting the ends of his shirt. He reached for his two other katana and began to dash forward the moment he was ready to close in the distance and used his gloves to blow himself to the left to get out of the flames guy vision. He dashed forward again to get behind the enemy he's fighting. They seems to have forgotten Yuri or maybe she was too weak for their consideration. Nonetheless, Yuri waited for the perfect moment.

She could clearly see that the flames guy did not react at his best. But then when he stopped behind him, he almost instantaneously pinpointed his position by an instant turn lunged at his enemy with claws aiming for his shoulders and collar bone. Should that hit, the claws would scrape from one shoulder across the chest and to the next one. It would burn through the clothes where contact was made and give severe frostbite under the skin. This would render both arms useless and affect his movement. What both of them did not realize is the silently approaching Yuri.

The evading swordsman rolled to his right with his hair touching the claws in a close call fashion. Part of his is now caught with ice, showing the fatality of the technique. With a sigh, he crossed both of his katana bracing for the next hit. This was when Yuri would be of use. She did a kick from behind on his back to send him forward with his sword towards other participant. The swordsman was caught off guard and knowing that he could not evade the next coming hit, he pointed one of his katana towards his opponent which gave a surprise to guy with his his in flames and ice from Yuri's view. One suffered a wound with a katana stabbed right through the area joining his left arm to his torso and the other got frozen though smoke can be seen coming out fro the block of ice. Yuri took advantage and pulled the sword right off him. She found herself lying on familiar grass from getting transported back from wherever she was just a moment ago.

Being tricked pisses her off, Kirigakure's technology still has room for improvement.

Lying at one of the rare wide fields in kirigakure lazing around, Yuri's mind went down the memory lane of her childhood when those with the same fate of her back then were forced to learn something unwillingly, as though anyone around had the choice to refuse. All of a sudden she thought that it would be best to regain that technique again. Her eyes closed for a moment to find herself closer to her thoughts.

Standing in a straight line, everyone watches and listens to the instructor on the importance of this jutsu. He said that it is very common for any fighter to be suing this technique as it has little limitations and not to mention that many had this technique used as though it is their second nature. Body flicker had been a key element in certain attack patterns for agile fighters that made up majority of the ninja forces, he figured that it is mandatory for everyone to know this technique and hence the reason Yuri is standing here today. By moving quickly using chakra for a bust of speed to move, It would seems like teleportation but in reality it was just incredibly fast movement. Yuri did not care how it was done back then, but she was simply taken aback by the coming demonstration.

He sighed focusing his chakra around his body he could feel it surrounding his body augmenting him but in reality he only needed to use it around his legs. He molded his chakra and moved at such speed that Yuri saw what he meant exactly. He nearly hit his shoulder against a tree. Yuri was so hoping he did so that she can go back to the meager lodging and rest after labor work from the day. It was clearly a jutsu that she needed but then again she was too lazy after labor work. The instructor then warned against the fatality of the technique since reacting to the new environment brought by this technique is important.

The next day children including Yuri were told to practice this technique first thing in the morning. Seconds of refusal saw herself gutted. She had to do it and got to her feet. She closed her eyes and focused for a a certain amount of chakra, it is her first time trying the technique. Abandoning the fear of how much hurt would come for the technique, she bust forth. Her back hit the ground as she fell down, ending her time in her memory lane.

Yuri sighed, reminded that she need this technique now, she stood up and looked around. She seemed to have screwed up last time. Control is what is needed for her to execute the technique safely. She began to focus for real this time round. The end result was like something she had felt many times before, giving her bruises to ruin her day. She breathed heavily after the last try. She had not trained for far too long but rest is what she needed now to get herself better prepared to learn the technique later on.

The next day, Yuri stood in the middle of one of advanced Kirigakure training grounds. She had known about this one jutsu for a while now and had finally decided to learn it. It is a jutsu that allowed a ninja to move short to long distances at an almost untraceable speed. To an observer, it appears as if the user has teleported.

Standing at the middle of the spacious training ground, Yuri closed her eyes to focus inwards, reopening her eyes at the moment she got ready. Aiming straight, she looked over at the area she wanted to get to. It was near to the exit of the training grounds about 30 meters away. Just focus on the spot you want to be at. Yuri thought to herself and did just that.

Yuri concentrated on the area again and closed her eyes, reopening them again and proceeded with the hand signs. There was a puff of smoke and Yuri blinked, her eyes being closed for a mere second or two. By the time she had opened her eyes, she was at halfway between when she used and wanted to be. She looked around her for a moment. So that's how it works? Wow. I’m actually a little surprised. She thought as she then looked around, looking for another area to hone the technique. She found one and decided to test it again, the area being on the other end of the training grounds, slightly further than her first intended destination in distance.

Yuri closed her eyes and focused on the area and did the required hand signs again. In an instant she was at the a different ground, since the feel of the ground is different, she would think that she did "teleported" though the result are not known yet. She opened her eyes and looked around. A useful jutsu indeed. Though it seems to be awfully familiar. She then thought of something. I need to make sure I can do the jutsu while running. Yuri then started running back to where she had just come from, her target being on a tree branch a good 10-20 meters away. She focused on the area and did the hand signs quickly. When she landed on the tree branch she had to quickly steady herself so she wouldn’t fall off. Unfortunately, the branch snapped, catching her off guard. Thankfully, umpteen times of falling gave her the composure land safely on the ground. Okay, That was not so bad. I would still need a few more tries.

Yuri spent the next few hours training the technique, having soon adapted to it it and was able to do the jutsu quickly. As her chakra pool is still limited, she quickly used up most of it and was a little exhausted. This warrants a good nap back to her lodging.

Its either this or that, choose one. Her partner flashed out 2 weapons for Yuri's choosing before she was sliced into half from side of her guts. Yuri could see the attacker, she was freaking out and thinking how a moment of delay might have been cause and dramatic change to an outcome of a mission. This was not the kind of lazy and free missions she would expect. Her eyes were in shock, she still have access to limited skills on her own as the quantity can be counted by a single hand. She could not move and thought it was the end for her.

The attacker sank into the ground all of a sudden, leaving the head above. Yuri saw her partner placing an explosive at the back of the enemy's head. We gotta go, get up Yuri left with her partner for a safe distance hearing panicking screams from the enemy all the while before a final shout seeing a red blast. She quickly turned away, it was not a good thing to seeing on top of all the fear she could not rid of from her mind yet.

You gotta know more about yourself Yuri, if we were outnumbered i won't be able to pull off what i just did. She left Yuri to rest in an inn knowing that she had yet to recover mentally and resumed to work. She was a little surprised that Yuri could not see through her genjutsu. Having headband will prove to be a problem, but not now. Inside Yuri, she felt fear invading half of her mind, denying her ability to think straight. As for the other half, she was blaming herself for her own ability. She kept thinking why she did not manage to make a choice; It was between a Kunai and a Kusanagi. Normally, she would opt for the Kunai given its simplicity but a Kusanagi can give her more reach suited for this mission. A fair judgement did not aid her in her assessment given the pressure on the time she had at the moment. Maybe she favors the Kunai, maybe she would stick to the mission.

After getting back from the mission, a thought came for her. She could cut the time being a burden from the others if she could just keep her weapons and choose on her own. She took her spare to time to look for her "instructor" to find a certain technique fitting for her problem. She was told to master a simple technique that allows us to keep her belongings in a scroll. She followed his instructions and was given scrolls to practice on. Normally she would be sleeping in her own free time; It was different when she felt herself becoming a burden to the others. Having an objective gave her mind the highway to get used to preforming the technique properly despite the time frame to her next mission.

To the day before the next mission, she saw her partner while heading back to the lodging. I would be taking your belongings, just be prepared for tomorrow like the usual. Yuri quickly rejected it. Just let me do it myself this time.

It was so long ago that Yuri would not have herself reminded of that incident if she wasn't aware of the fact that she could have access to the water clone technique via jutsu scrolls in Kirigakure. Back then it was need to solve a problem, but his would give her versatility to her arsenal of maneuvers. She walked the streets while thinking, but let it go slide when her legs brought her to the training grounds.

She prepared herself after she dragged out an advanced mokujin that allows the trainee to configure its ability to their liking. Yuri configured it to make it move as quick as her while giving the mokujin the ability to perform the great fireball jutsu. Most should know by now how "great" would the fireball should be from the mokujin by now. After the delay that was set on the mokujin to begin combat to prepare herself ends, the mokujin was about 20 meters as it started with the fireball coming at Yuri. About 8 meters wide, Yuri know she could get the distance to see it pass covered immediately. That would only be undermining her ability herself. Instead, she picked a time where she thinks that the mokujin's vision of her would be totally covered by the fireball. She still had enough time to dodge that.

However, while she is thinking the mokujin already flanked her. Attempting the make a kick to her back via her left so that she would have a shorter time frame to evade the fireball, Yuri jumped. Little that she realizes that jumping also fulfilled the aim of the mokujin as well. But given the mokujin ability to think, little that it realize that throwing any more physical attacks at her now would get her back to the ground sooner than what the kick can do. Yuri did not waste the chance given at all, She grabbed onto the swinging leg of the mokujin to guide her to the ground through the full swing of its leg. Yuri let go of it when her feet touched ground but she was not going to her the mokujin regain balance on both feet. She attempted a kick to its landing leg, the mokujin evaded and shifted the leg higher in order to try and counter back by a kick via the same leg. It nearly succeeding to hit Yuri. Yuri evaded it via a high speed movement out of the area where the fireball would hit. She could feel the heat, but the mokujin was caught onto the fire and set to stop the combat when it detect damage on itself. it simply just stopped dead in its tracks and started rolling onto the ground to put out the fire on its own. Such tools is a fine state of the art by the advanced technology of kirigakure.